Timeline

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine and launched a large-scale invasion. Cyber incidents have been playing a central role in the conflict, so we take a look at how events are unfolding

FEB 2022

GOVERNMENTS AND CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE TARGETED

JAN 2022

US RELEASE CYBER ADVISORY

February saw multiple attacks in various industries,and two DDoS attacks took down Ukrainian government and banking websites. Ukrainian officials supported a campaign to attract civilian developers and hackers into what it called the ‘IT Army of Ukraine’.

MAR 2022

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Security Agency (NSA) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) providing an overview of Russian state-sponsored cyber operations – including commonly observed tactics, techniques, and procedures.

COMPANIES COMBINE FORCES TO FIGHT CYBER CRIME

Top cyber security platforms – Cloudflare, CrowdStrike and Ping Identity – announced a Critical Infrastructure Defence Project to “provide free cybersecurity services to particularly vulnerable industries during this time of heightened risk”.

The hacktivist collective Anonymous also claimed it took down the website of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia.

MAY 2022

ALLIES RECOGNISE CYBER SECURITY ISSUES

The EU, UK, US and other allies made a statement that Russia has been behind a series of cyberattacks since the start of the renewed invasion of Ukraine.

Finland and Sweden also confirmed their intentions to join Nato, a move triggered by the war.

APR 2022

BUSINESSES PULL OUT OF RUSSIA

Global companies such as Apple, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Ericsson and Nokia began to cease trading in Russia. This had a financial impact not only on Russia, but also the companies themselves, with Nokia saying it expected its decision to leave Russia to lead to about US$109mn in provisions for the quarter.

JUN/JUL 2022

NO SIGN OF CYBER ATTACKS SLOWING DOWN

Five months after Russia’s invasion, Ukraine continues to see significant increases in cyberattacks.

In June, according to Bloomberg, areas of Ukraine that were under Russian occupation had Internet access often shut down or disrupted. Even when the internet came back on, the traffic was rerouted to networks owned by the Russian government.